Upside down

Owner: Chiara Morgante Hotel operator: Brera Apartments/HotelSolutions Interior design: Federico Peri Furnishings: custom made; Molteni&C Textiles: Lelièvre Paris

Author: Manuela Di Mari Photo credits: courtesy Amabilia Suites by Brera Apartments, Paola Pansini; courtesy by Molteni&C

with custom-made and design works of art and furniture, such as those by Molteni&C. The interiors feature many iconic pieces, including the D.153.1 and D.151.4 armchairs designed by Gio Ponti, the Panna Cotta coffee tables by Ron Gilad, Vicino by Foster + Partners and When by Rodolfo Dordoni, as well as the Pass-Word sideboard by Dante Bonuccelli. Amabilia Suites include a common living area, a kitchen and four theme-based double suites — Montenapoleone, Triennale, Scala and Aperitivo — with walk-in closets and en-suite bathrooms, giving guests a conceptual tour of Milan. It is as if by going through the rooms, the guests get to visit the key places of the city, starting from the common space — a living area reflecting classic Milanese sobriety — and get to enjoy the experience of that special mix of comfort, understatement, and luxury. Peri says, “I wanted to create a little gem, a place that would evoke the elegance of the Milanese atmosphere while conveying warmth through selected colors, refined woods and sophisticated fabrics.”

The Altstadthotel Weisses Kreuz in Innsbruck comes back to life with a total resdesign from the surreal vision of Noa* network of architecture. Where contemporary style, reality and imagination meet

The Noa* network of architecture has rewritten the history of the centuries-old Altstadthotel Weisses Kreuz hotel in the heart of Innsbruck, subverting the bounds of time and design. Dating back to around 1460, the Weisses Kreuz was formed of construction elements from different eras, set with complete continuity in the urban landscape of the Herzog-Friedrich-Straße, the city’s historic neighborhood. Stefan Rier and Lukas Rungger (co-founders of the Noa* studio) took up the redesign and expansion of the hotel, taking a very contemporary approach to this invaluable starting material, drawing on a multiplicity of cultural references, joined harmoniously despite their distance in time. While crossing the Weisses Kreuz threshold takes us on a journey through history, it also demands we free ourselves from preconceptions and give ourselves over to Noa*’s visionary design. Right from the entrance, the sense of strangeness begins. The building is narrow, stretching lengthwise towards the interior and it opens with a long corridor, interrupted by two “mirror partitions,” which lead to the elevator. The reflective surfaces on the walls and the ceiling dissolve the boundaries of the room and architecture becomes

immaterial, while guests encounter themselves. Here is where the new time dimension begins. The elevator goes from the ground floor directly to the sixth — a new penthouse added during the redesign, the result of work careful to protect the building’s heritage — and opens onto the reception. “It was immediately clear from studying the state of affairs that the distribution of the spaces would have to be subverted,” says Stefan Rier. “The lobby had been on the second floor, separated from the breakfast area. This made the ground floor entrance rather uninviting. So we opted for the radical approach of a walkway from the entrance to the sixth floor, and as you go up the sense of anticipation mounts.” The lobby is pure magic, unexpected in its location and even more so in its layout. Its identifying feature is a 13-meter long table — made to measure in brass with baroque ornaments — which traces a path lengthwise through the room while serving the functions of receiving guests, serving as a breakfast buffet, bar and delightful meeting place in the evenings, open to the public. The warm dark blue hues intensify the atmosphere’s

evocative power and combine with the smoked oak of the floor in contrast to the royal brass of the finishes and furnishings; this color also gave the name of the “Blaue Brigitte” venue (named in honor of the property’s owner as well). “The decision to invert the routes of the hotel turned out to be a success on both a conceptual and compositional level. On the one hand, it creates a sense of surprise; there is no better start to a journey through time than to break with the life flowing in the streets of Innsbruck,” continues the architect. “On the other, it optimized the layout of the spaces in a building with considerable historical constraints; having the lobby and the bar on the sixth floor, and addition to the original volume, made for a well-lit, functional space with an urban character.” The penthouse’s bay windows and glass niches that light up comfortable rest spaces to enjoy a view of the city make it a triumph of timelessness; pieces from different style periods create a varied mix but carefully coordinated by harmonious colors, carrying guests away from the present day. Here the “Chic Shock Baroque” design theme is most clearly expressed.

Client: Altstadthotel Weisses Kreuz Architecture & Interior design: Noa* network of architecture Furnishings: custom made by Norer Tischlerei Lighting: Gubi; Custom lamps Bathrooms: GSI, Paffoni Upholstery & Textiles: Raumausstattung Wieland Wall coverings: Inkiostro Bianco Painting & coatings: Farben Holzbaur Flooring: HTW-Design Carpet Tiling: Equipe

Author: Veronica Orsi Photo credits: Alex Filz